The Law Society's response to the MoJ's consultation on its proposals to modernise Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) makes a number of really important and sensible points.

It is inevitable that modernisation (often meaning digitalisation) will continue to transform legal processes over the next few years - we have already seen huge change in many areas, particularly since the beginning of the pandemic - and this is to be welcomed to a large extent. In the case of LPAs, the current paper-based application system is complex, easy to get wrong without professional assistance and can be extremely slow. However, caution must be exercised when considering a modernised system.

LPAs are hugely powerful documents and are most often used when the donor of that LPA has lost mental capacity and is therefore extremely vulnerable to abuse. The current system was therefore designed with a number of essential safeguards in place such as the requirement for witnessing, the need for a professional to assess and confirm the donor has mental capacity to grant the LPA and a notice period during which any objections can be noted. The Law Society notes that there is a fair degree of ambiguity around these areas in the current proposals, which will need to be crystallised before any proposals can be put into practice. And of course there is the question with a digitalised system of what happens to people who do not have access to the internet, or to a computer. LPAs are often put in place by the elderly and the unwell and, whatever proposals are taken forward, it is essential that these people are still able to access and put in place LPAs when they most need one.